Blacksky Company
In-Game Background The Blacksky Company was founded by Baelor Blacksky, a Tauren of little renown, when the Orcs first breached the shores of Kalimdor. Baelor was one of the first Tauren to urge acceptance of the new arrivals, although he had little political clout in the Taruen society. He had already been versed well in the art of combat, being a low-ranking officer in the standing militia gathered to fight against the threat of the Centaurs, but also understood that a wealthy man was more often an influential man than a wise one. Finding an old Orc who had been recently freed from the internment camps who agreed with his monetarily-motivated lifestyle, the Blacksky Company was formed after Baelor felt his obvious leadership qualities were being ignored by the standing forces of the Tauren. He quickly gathered others who were either eager for monetary gain or the acclaim of battle, and with a war already brewing, the regular commission of the Company by both individuals and fledgling nations was all but assured. The Company quickly grew to acclaim with the ferocity of its warriors, tempered as it was with honor and success. By the end of the war, it was one of the most prestigous mercenary companies available for general hire, and its membership had swelled to several hundred of the Horde's strongest soldiers-for-hire. Peacetime, however, is never kind to a mercenary company; the uneasy truce between the Horde and Alliance following the Battle of Mount Hyjal was horrible for the financial health of the Company. They began to take any job that paid, lowering their wartime standard of ethics in order to try and maintain the now-bloated roster that had come to expect a regular, and hefty, paycheck. Foolishly, and against the advice of his closest confidants, he accepted a campaign into Northrend that would doom his Company, and himself. Several soldiers in the Company refused to go out with Baelor on his ill-advised campaign, including his son, Blackbraid. They knew there would be no pay for the duration of the campaign, but they felt that the meager wage offered by their employer was not worth the risk involved. Baelor was furious, but knew it would be in the best interest of the Company to allow the dissidents to remain behind in the fledgling city of Orgrimmar, where the Company based. Leaving Blackbraid in charge of the small remainder of soldiers, he left to the frozen wastes of the north to fight. Not a man returned alive. The Company was shattered, and only a handful of soldiers remained. They went their separate ways for a short while, with no leader to bind them. Once he had overcome the grief and guilt stemming from the loss of his father, Blackbraid took the mantle of Captain of a defunct Company upon his own shoulders, and set out to reform the Company in the memory of his father, and once again raise it to the honor and glory it once knew.